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Did you download from the link I provided ? What happens when you try to use it ?

Note on the download page :

CWShredder or HijackThis closes immediately after opening?

There is a variant of the Coolwebsearch trojan spreading that closes several anti-spyware apps when you try to open them.
If this is happening to you, download PepiMK's CoolWWWSearch.SmartKiller removal tool first and run it. After it does its job, CWShredder and HijackThis will run properly (as well Spybot S&D, Ad-aware and several anti-spyware forums).

Originally posted here by hesperus Did you download from the link I provided ? What happens when you try to use it ?

Note on the download page :

Yes, and saved it, extracted it into it's own folder.
It closes the moment I try to run it.
I tried to run... the smartkiller thing to see if that would work.
But the only link I keep finding to download it from leads me to a progam that also errors telling me that it cannot find CoolWWWSearch.SmartKiller (v1/v2) on my system.

Originally posted here by Chelle Yes, and saved it, extracted it into it's own folder.
It closes the moment I try to run it.
I tried to run... the smartkiller thing to see if that would work.
But the only link I keep finding to download it from leads me to a progam that also errors telling me that it cannot find CoolWWWSearch.SmartKiller (v1/v2) on my system.

That is not an error. Its telling you it can't find it. Right. So something is keeping you from running hijack this. Either you have to keep throwing scanners at it or start from scratch. Have a look at this tutorial for a good list of scanners and detailed instructions. If you choose this route, follow them carefully. Check out Itty Bitty Process manager in particular.

Originally posted here by hesperus That is not an error. Its telling you it can't find it. Right. So something is keeping you from running hijack this. Either you have to keep throwing scanners at it or start from scratch. Have a look at this tutorial for a good list of scanners and detailed instructions. If you choose this route, follow them carefully. Check out Itty Bitty Process manager in particular.

Good luck.

Thanks, I'm willing to try pretty much anything to avoid having to format at this point. I'll read through that carefully.

Well, I thought I'd post a little bit of an update. I ran this problem by my NetOps guy at work to see what he thought too and he thought it sounded like whatever was causing the pop-ups was a latent program that reinstalled them every time I removed them. He also said finding these programs can be difficult without the right tools, as they can have names that are strikingly similar to Windows components... and unfortunately I simply cannot afford the tools to do such a search. So, after all the advice from everyone here that's tried to help and from my NetOps guy I made the decision to simply format the blasted thing. He burned a CD for me which I have to run tonight, he said it will check to make sure that nothing was left behind and that it was a clean format (I cannot remember the program name at this time).

Anyway, thank you to everyone that tried to help me figure this one out...

Hi I am obviously late as you are going to do a reformat, but for future reference, you might want to try disabling/turn off system restore, do all of your scans in safe mode, unhide all files and folders and delete all temp files, then reboot into normal mode, with system restore off, this will flush out your system restore points.

Sometimes .exe's will reside in a system restore point and each time you reboot will try to open, such as popups and repopulate your pc, even though you tried removing, as the scanners will not remove what's left behind in your systemvolumeinformation restore points.

Originally posted here by morganlefay You know...sometimes that is the fastest easiest and surest way to clean a computer.

I have spent days trying to fix stuff....and end up formatting anyway.

Always like a nice clean install..........so much fun to try and break it again

MLF

I tend to agree with you there. I've never had a trojan on my computer (that I know of ), but I think if I found one, I would incline toward just backing up everything and reinstalling. I know there are trojan removers out there (don't know if such a thing exists for *nix) but I would always be wondering if somehow they missed something. I think I tend toward the paranoid school when it comes to such things.

For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
(Romans 6:23, WEB)

Originally posted here by morganlefay You know...sometimes that is the fastest easiest and surest way to clean a computer.

I have spent days trying to fix stuff....and end up formatting anyway.

Always like a nice clean install..........so much fun to try and break it again

MLF

I agree 100%... I feel so much better now that I've formated and gotten everything up and running smoothly again.

And I do know what ya mean! I break software for a living actually...

Originally posted here by dalek Hi I am obviously late as you are going to do a reformat, but for future reference, you might want to try disabling/turn off system restore, do all of your scans in safe mode, unhide all files and folders and delete all temp files, then reboot into normal mode, with system restore off, this will flush out your system restore points.

Sometimes .exe's will reside in a system restore point and each time you reboot will try to open, such as popups and repopulate your pc, even though you tried removing, as the scanners will not remove what's left behind in your systemvolumeinformation restore points.

Well, there's no way of knowing if this would have worked on my problem this specific time, though I was doing scans in safe mode, my files and folders are unhidden (not that I would recognize each and every file by sight anyway)... As for the system restore, I have no idea if it was on or off to be honest, I've never used that particular feature of XP.

However, I'm pretty sure I DID figure out where my little problem came from. There is a browser based, text run RPG that I play. Like most, this game has the vote links that you can use and get in game rewards for. Well, just recently a notice was posted up...

There is a Virus Issue with the Sweet Online Vote Link! I suggest you NOT use that one until further notice.

Vote Master

After talking to a few of the people that are in charge of the site the initial reports of a problem coincide to the time I started having problems with my PC. I'm not sure how the virus was launched from their site, but I will from now on be more careful about those vote links AND will be putting a better virus guard on my home computer (I'm pretty sure that's what's protected my work machine).